Florence Italy
"Florence, Italy" is the sixteenth episode of Miami Vice's second season. The episode premiered on February 14, 1986. Summary A Grand Prix driver is accused of murdering a prostitute. Plot The Miami Grand Prix is coming up, and Prix drivers are in town. On the downtown streets, a 17 year old prostitute named Florence Italy (real name Abigail Cook) is picked up by an unidentified driver in a white unmarked Porsche 906 Carrera in front of a croissant shop (where the owner, Beatrice (Alix Elias) chased Florence and another hooker in drag earlier), later Crockett and Tubbs spot him racing through town. Crockett pursues but is unable to keep up with the high-performance racing car. The driver manages to distract the Vice cops long enough to dump Florence's body on the street before driving away. Crockett wakes up Tommy (Annie Golden), his mechanic, to see if she knows anything about the Porsche and she said the one they are looking for belongs to Danny Tepper (Danny Sullivan), a race car driver in town for the Grand Prix, they take him in for questioning, Danny said he hasn't driven the Porsche for a week, didn't know the car was stolen - his wife Katie is overdue to deliver their first baby, and he was driving in his truck picking up parts for his car. His alibi of being with his racing friends doesn't appear to stand up, as he was not with his friends during the time of the killing. Danny's father, Frank (Stephen Joyce), comes by OCB to see his son, talks about how he'll stand behind Danny no matter what, and tells Danny his sponsor will pay his bond to get out and race. Castillo agrees to cut Danny some slack if he takes Crockett and Tubbs (as Burnett & Cooper) to a Grand Prix driver cocktail party to check out the field for any additional suspects. Tommy is there too and is upset a "racer chaser", Becky Sklar, is hanging on to the drivers and "setting women's rights back 100 years" (according to Tommy). Danny introduces them to Marty Worthington (Charles Rocket) as potential car sponsors, but are interrupted by a Tepper father-son challenge to race motorcycles from the top of a parking garage to the bottom. Frank wins the race, but Danny gets the better prize, a baby boy. Crockett and Tubbs cannot find any other car owners/sponsors that could be tied into the murder, and Gina and Trudy cannot find anyone who witnessed Florence get into the Porsche. Castillo wants Crockett and Tubbs to check out the drivers. Danny and Katie talk about his dilemma and she stands behind him, then someone delivered a gift to the hospital, which was a burned up race car. Gina and Trudy question Beatrice at the croissant shop and get nowhere. The other Vice cops check their street contacts without success, while Switek and Zito bring in the transvestite hooker who was with Florence the night of her murder and is no help. Crockett and Tubbs continue to question Danny, who maintains his innocence and Frank demands they back off his son as he didn't do it. They then talk to Becky, asking her about any of the car drivers who is rough with their women, and she instantly gets scared, saying she had her face wired and sipping soup through a straw for nine months after someone beat her up, but won't tell who. Frank and Danny have a discussion way up in the stands, but Crockett and Tubbs cannot hear their conversation, but Frank mentions about he may not be his father and that he needs to get his mind off the Florence Italy situation and concentrate on racing. The race gets started, and Crockett and Tubbs go back on the street, they stop by the croissant shop and find Beatrice has a security camera, which was set up in front of the store. They pull the tape from the night of the murder and find it was Frank Tepper that was driving the car, and they go to arrest Frank. The race goes on and Danny wins the Grand Prix, then the police begin chasing Frank in his race car and he deliberately runs the car into a building, glass breaking. Cast *Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett *Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs *Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese *Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek *John Diehl as Metro-Dade Detective Larry Zito *Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin *Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo Guest Stars *Danny Sullivan as Danny Tepper *Stephen Joyce as Frank Tepper *Annie Golden as Tommy *Alix Elias as Beatrice *The Fat Boys as Dope Dealers *Charles Rocket as Marty Worthington Co-Starring *Marilyn Romero as Abigail "Florence Italy" Cook *Sergio Pereira as Nelson Oramus *Robyn Peterson as Becky Sklar *Tiffany Arieagus as Blondie *Patricia Loza as Sally Notes * Danny Sullivan won the Indianapolis 500 and the "Streets of Miami" CART race in 1985, then won the Miami street race again in 1986. * The episode was originally planned for the first season named "The Prize" and designed for Mick Jagger or another British rocker to play the lead role. The script was scrapped (along with racing footage) and revived in Season 2 for Sullivan. The official writer of this episode is Paul Diamond, the name listed in the credits is Wilton Crawley, which is a psudeonym for an unhappy writer. * The Fat Boys make a cameo appearance at the beginning of the episode, with Buffy (aka The Human Beat Box) being forced to eat a marijuana joint after Tubbs asks him to "make it disappear". * This episode marks the second and final appearance of Annie Golden as Crockett's mechanic, Tommy. Tommy was originally to be a valuable source of street information (replacing Charlie Barnett's Noogie Lamont) but the character never caught on. * Lowenbrau beer was the sponsor of Danny's car in the episode, and Danny can be seen drinking it at the cocktail party. * The race in the parking garage between Danny and Frank features the Kawasaki Ninja, a popular sport bike born in the 80s that still remains popular today. * Crockett's affinity for racing is revealed, as he speeds through the streets prior to the chase with the Porsche. thumb|right|300px|"Make it Disappear!" Music *"Naughty, Naughty" by John Parr (opening) *"Cruise Missile" by Steve Morse Band (during motorcycle race) *"Up From The Skies" by Jimi Hendrix Experience (Vice cops checking streets) *"Mercury Blues" by David Lindley (Pre-race scenes) Quotes *"Make it disappear!" -- Tubbs to Fat Boy Buffy before he eats a marijuana joint *"You don't get it, do you?! Unless you tell us who did this, man, you're it! You're in the jackpot, you're going to jail!" -- Crockett to Danny *"If we keep covering the street, they're gonna have to call it "Crockett and Tubbs Boulevard!" -- Tubbs Category:Miami Vice Season 2 Episodes